User blog:Madilayn/Ava Rios - Not the Tease and Untrustworthy Woman
One of the big subplots of the Deathworlders series revolves around Adam Ares and Ava Rios. They are introduced in about Chapter 10. 15/16 year olds – Adam is the son of San Diego Detective Gabriel Ares who was investigating a murder that involved Terri Boone. Gabriel gives his son advice on dating, and when Ava is pointed out to him, he advises Adam that he should ask her as Ava was very interested in him as well. So – we have two mid teens and we are later given information that they are each others first romantic attachments. They went to the same school – and probably didn’t know each other very well (in the manner of high school teens). Their first date was to the roller derby (and incidentally – it was the first – and really only time – Adam completely deferred to Ava’s interests. This is important in the light of what subsequently happened with them. At that first date, there was an incident engineered by The Hierarchy that resulted in Gabriel Ares being seriously wounded – badly enough that he would not be able to continue working with the San Diego Police Force. We next see them in Florida where Gabriel has taken them after he was recovered somewhat. The idea is to have a bit of a holiday to take their minds off what has happened. They are in Florida when the destruction of San Diego occurs. Leaving Ava orphaned – the only people aive that she knows are Gabriel and Adam Ares. In the narrative, Hambone clearly shows Ava as being severely traumatised by this – more so than Adam who still has his father (though he is traumatised). Kevin Jenkins arranges for them to emigrate to Cimbrean, with the aim of Gabriel taking up the role of Chief of Security (Police Chief). However, nobody seems to have really thought about Adam and Ava, much less investigated their mind set and trauma after what has happened. In fact, when they get to Cimbrean they discover that Gabriel will be living in an aparatment in one area of Folchtha and Adam and Ava sharing what is, in effect, a Tiny House, some distance away. Remember – these are 15/16 year olds who are still going to school – and will be doing so on Cimbrean. Even the other children make comment about this (Sarah Tisdale says hwo lucky they are as she has to still live with her parents and younger brother). And apparently Gabriel Ares is in agreement of this. At least, he makes no objection to it. So – we have two teenagers, in their first romantic attachment, both having undergone serious trauma, being forced to live alone while their only parental figure is living at some distance to them. And nobody even offers any form of counselling to them In many ways – you can blame what they become from here on in, and theire actions, solely on the adults who have put them in this situation. I have no doubt that had they still been living with Gabriel, he would have noticed the signs of trauma emerging. And it is entirely likely that the pair would have drifted from romantic into sibling relationship naturally. The reality is – it’s rare for your first boyfriend/girlfriend to be your last “one and only”. They are confronted then with other things – the Tisdales open marriage and the family’s relaxed attitude towards ndity (the whole swimming naked in the lake – it take much longer for Ava to be able to do this wheeas Adam is able to jump in almost immediately). Then comes the next tragedy – Sarah Tisdale is murdered by a member of The Hierarchy when the three children notice something unusual at the construction site. Adam and Ava are unable to stop “free spirit” Sarah from trying to see closer what is happening. Sarah has no survival instinct. Sarah’s death affects the whole Colony – from Owen Powell downwards. However, the two that it affects most by witnessing the whole thing ae Adam and Ava – both of whom blame themselves for her death. And once again, absolutely zero counselling is offered to them. And yet it is this incident that shapes their future career paths and determinations to make a difference. All of this without one person questioning their motives. For Adam it’s easy – he has a military career path that he can go on, and he makes this decision without discussing it with Ava just presenting her with his decision and the assumption that she will accept it and just wait for him to be through with the training. When Ava decides to go to the London School of Journalism (encouraged by her teacher) Adam duestions her about being in London. However, they are both in agreement that it will be 4 years of training for them both and they will be able to meet up. Adam’s objection about her being in London means he won’t be able to see her as much as he would like. He never once asks her opinion. This becomes a repeating pattern in their relationship. Adam makes decisions for his career, expecting Ava to just fall in with them and be there waiting for him when he is ready. In this – Adam is displaying many teenage boy traits – where a girlfriend is to be there for when he’s not hanging out with his friends and her role is to watch admiringly from the sidelines. Fair enough when you are still school kids, but it doesn’t work as you get older. At no time, does Adam ever take any interest in Ava’s course or life. Or even really want to meet her friends. As BASEBALL points out some time later, Adam had no idea that she was already very well known as a photographer and had a website of her own. He rightly points out to Adam that he (BASEBALL) knows more about Adam’s girlfriend than Adam does. He’s no the only one – many people try to get Adam to understand that he’s being really inconsiderate and that he’s actually lucky Ava has stuck by him. Adam is constantly surprised that there would be any doubt that she wouldn’t. In London we have Ava suffering. She loves Adam but every time that she sees him or speaks with him, it becomes all about Adam and she is left (afterwards) feeling sidelined. Early on – we see them on Cimbrean over Christmas and they are supposed to be holidaying together. Except they are only together at night. Adam continues his training regime and Ava is left to fend for herself. Even Gabriel notices and mentions it to Adam – who is (yet again) confused that he might actuaslly be doing something wrong. Ava confronts him, and we see that confusion and then Adam tries to make Ava feel guilty about daring to want him to think of her. That his career is more important because it was all about helping people and even brings Sarah up. Adam isn’t manipulating her consciously – he’s too innocent to do that. He just hasn’t ever moved into a more mature mindset and it’s not helped by the intensely masculine and “brotherhood” environment of his training and then the SOR. In their relationship, all contact is initiated by Ava but the subject in the contact is always all about Adam. Usually because Adam is making decisions for them both without letting her know – even if he’s had plenty of opportunity. Even when Ava calls him with exciting news for herself, Adam never hears it because they end up fighting due to yet another decision Adam has made and not bothered to let her know about. He never does find out what she wanted to tell him, and it doesn’t even seem to bother him. Once again, BASEBALL calls him on it, but Adam does nothing. This then tips things over the edge for Ava, and results in her becoming quite a hated character – both by a lot of readers (in fact, some of the comments about Ava from make Redditors are really disgusting) and also the SOR as a whole. (though they never really accepted her at all – she was clearly an interloper when she did interact with them). Whilst in London, Ava has made some friends. The first of these is a housemate who takes her out to a bar, whee they meet the other two men. These men ae more than happy to get together with the two ladies and one of them, Sean, makes it quite clear he’s attracted to Ava. Ava, however, firmly shuts him down and tells him right from the start she is in a committed relationship. Now remember – at this time, Ava is 17 and has until now, had a very restrictive world view and experience. Her friends see her relationship with Adam, and are not happy with how he treats her. Ava is also aware it’s not great, but she loves Adam enough that she will accept it (not happily, but does so). Sean, however, seems to hate Adam from the start, and is always trying to push himself into Ava’s consciousness. But he’s subtle. He IS manipulative and he’s manipulating Ava for all he’s worth. Sean never looses an opportunity to diss Adam – either subtly or more obviously. When they do meet Adam, Ava’s friends react differently. But Sean is the only one who is hostile, and the two put on such a show of masculine posturing that even Ava can see what is going on and is annoyed with them both. And later on, she again reminds Sean that Adam is her boyfriend and how much she loves him. Sean tells her he has a crush on her, and Ava admits that if she didn’t love Adam and wasn’t with him, she might have a crush on him. Might. For the next few years, Sean doesn’t loose an opportunity to push that he loves Ava 0 subtly and in a way that she feels quite bad about rejecting him. He has ingratiated himself into her life in a way that she couldn’t get rid of him – he’s the one who helps get her work known – helping her to set up a website and become known as a photographer. But it’s quite clear that nothing Sean has done is just for Ava. It’s after Adam tells Ava that the SOR has been posted to Cimbrean and that he has taken on a 16 year/lifetime enlistment with them that things reach a head. Ava feels, not unreasonably, that this was definitely something that he should have discussed with her. Yes – the SOR had required an answer quickly, but Adam made absolutely no attempt whatsoever to contact Ava. Even justifying not even bothering to e-mail her, let alone calling or texting her. It is this that they have their major fight over, when Ava calls him to tell him her news (as he was in a plane en-route to Germany so the unit could travel to Cimbrean). This does push Ava over the edge and is the ultimate reason that she starts looking at her life. And the conclusion she comes to is the conclusion of a confused, frightened and inexperienced young girl, not a young woman with any sort of romantic experience behind her. Certainly not a conclusion and an idea that any honourable person would take her up on. Ava goes to Sean and proposes an affair – an affair with a finite ending (the end of her University course it would appear) with no strings attached. Basically to meet her sexual needs and personal needs whilst Adam is away. And when Adam does come to visit, or when she goes to Cimbean, she would be wholly Adam’s girlfriend. In fact, in all of this Ava sees herself as totally being Adam’s girlfriend and sees Sean as a lover and a friend. Sean sees tis as an opening, and takes what she offers, but still puts Adam down whenever he can and when he sees Adam makes subtle “ownership” moves towards Ava. Ava tells two people outside of her very very small circle of friends (two other people). One is Gabriel Ares (who guesses something is going on) and BASEBALL who also guesses (much more accurately) what is going on. This is really the start of Ava’s very bad relationship with the SOR as BASEBALL makes absolutely no bones about his very low opinion of her. Even though he can understand and feels that Adam is treating her badly. But absolutely nobody who could help her, gives her advice not to do so, or any other options. Even Adam’s father, who thinks of her as his daughter by now. Not one person sees her decision as that of a confused and hurting young women, who has no idea how to deal with how she is being treated. Not one person. And yet, afterward, they all feel quite justified to judge her as untrustworthy and as the villain in the whole situation. In fact, the whole attitude is “poor Adam” rather than trying to find out from Ava why she did what she did. The SOR as a whole, even takes it one step further to actively dislike and distrust and not hesitating to say so to a number of people – both on Cimbrean and on Folctha. Once again, leaving Ava completely alone and vulnerable. When Adam does find out, once again, he’s not willing to ask Ava, but immediately kicks her out of his apartment. Eventually he does start listening to her, and they begin to heal, but that takes time, and he does nothing to try to change the opinion of the SOR When Ava is caught up (through no fault of her own) in Operation EMPTY BELL, the attitude of the SOR towards her confuses even the troops on the ground, but, to their credit, are not influenced by it. However, Ava discovers that her reputation as untrustworthy, to the point of being a security risk (which is, frankly, ridiculous!) goes up to the CIA level. You can see how this hurts Ava, and adds further to her trauma. Ava seems to be painted as something of a jezebel, and is described by both Powell land Sean as a user. Basically, they feel that she uses her “womanly wiles” to use men. It’s a very very misogynistic view of her. Everybody agrees that Adam did not treat her well, but nobody bothers to see just how badly he did treat her, and the effect it had on her. It’s almost as if they expect Ava to behave in a much more adult way than Adam simply because she’s a female. As if she’s not allowed to make mistakes. Not allowed to wand Adam to put her first. Because Adam has is MISSION and Ava can’t possibly be as important as that, or have anything as important as that in her life. All in all, the treatment of Ava and Adam is incredibly stereotypical with the woman as the villain who ruins the poor innocent man, who does it deliberately and then goes on to deliberately use men for her own designs. When in reality, we don’t see Ava do this – in fact we see her floundering on as a human, as a teenager who has not had any sort of life experience and who makes major mistakes because she has had no adult guidance plus the added problem of being the victim serious, and untreated, mental trauma. As I said earlier – in the course of things, maybe Adam and Ava would not have stayed together as a couple. However, whatever chance they had was doomed by the fact that neither of them was given the sort of support and advice and, more importantly, mental health help that they needed. Adam does go on to a much more mature relationship eventually with Martina Kovacs, but Ava’s mental issues mean she is left alone romantically with nothing in sight. And with the reputation of an untrustworthy woman who does not deserve romance. Hopefully this will change, and Adam and Martina between them will change the minds of the SOR about her, and also help her to find somebody who will value her for the person she truly is, and give her the loving, mature relationship that they have themselves. Because Ava deserves it. Category:Blog posts